The Jewish Question In The Territories Occupied By Italians

This volume deals with a topic at central to the Italian historiographical debate, namely the Italian authorities’ attitude in the occupied territories during the Second World War and, in particular, towards the local Jewish communities. Through a reconstruction that is the result of authors with different sensitivities and historiographic approaches, the contradictory nature of the application of anti-Jewish legislation by Italian authorities emerges; an application that went from protection to more or less rigid internment up to handing them over to German authorities. A historiographically innovative book, therefore, that aims to shed light on one of the most dramatic events of the Second World War: the persecution of the Jewish population.

The Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 plunged the world into its second global conflict. The Third Reich's attack, mounted without consulting its Italian ally, had other reverberations as well. Chief among them was Mussolini's decision to conduct a "parallel war" based on his own tactical and political agendas. Against this backdrop, Daniel Carpi depicts the fate of some 5000 Jews in Tunisia and as many as 30,000 in southeastern France, all of whom came under the aegis of the Italian Fascist regime early in the war. Many were unskilled immigrants: still others were political refugees, activists, or anti-fascist emigres, the fuoriusciti who fled oppression in Italy only to find themselves under its rule once again after the fall of France. While the Fascist regime disagreed with Hitler's final solution for the "Jewish problem," it also saw actions by Vichy French police or German security forces against Jews in Italian-controlled regions as an erosion of Rome's power. Thus, although these Jews were not free from oppression, Carpi shows that as long as Italy maintained control over them its consular officials were able to block the arrests and mass deportations occurring elsewhere.

Antisemitism, as an ideology, played a critical role in the development of European thinking and politics during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was a defining principle of National Socialism in Germany under Adolf Hitler. Its place during Fascism under Benito Mussolini in Italy, however, was not as overt. German-Italian relations leading up to, and during the Second World War, were complex at best. Utilizing diplomatic records, memoirs, and other sources, this study examined the role of the "Jewish Question" between the Axis powers. Between Mussolini and Hitler, practical political, economic, and military concerns far outweighed considerations of ideology and policy. Ever opportunistic, the Fascist government often modeled, but never directly copied identical German anti-Jewish policy and methods, including parallel forms of civil restrictions and legislation, press campaigns, and detainment. Despite diplomatic pressure after 1942, the efforts of a number of Italian officials frustrated some German attempts to carry out the "Final Solution" in occupied Europe. It was not until this late period that the "Jewish Question" became a critical component of relations between Rome and Berlin, and even then, Italian Jews were safe from deportation until the collapse of Mussolini's regime and German occupation of Italy in 1943.

An extremely detailed account and history of the Italian Jews during Italy's 23-year history of fascism and involvement in World War II. There is simply no other book like this.

How did Italy treat Jews during World War II? Historians have shown beyond doubt that many Italians were complicit in the Holocaust, yet Italy is still known as the Axis state that helped Jews. Shira Klein uncovers how Italian Jews, though victims of Italian persecution, promoted the view that Fascist Italy was categorically good to them. She shows how the Jews' experience in the decades before World War II - during which they became fervent Italian patriots while maintaining their distinctive Jewish culture - led them later to bolster the myth of Italy's wartime innocence in the Fascist racial campaign. Italy's Jews experienced a century of dramatic changes, from emancipation in 1848, to the 1938 Racial Laws, wartime refuge in America and Palestine, and the rehabilitation of Holocaust survivors. This cultural and social history draws on a wealth of unexplored sources, including original interviews and unpublished memoirs.

This book is perhaps the first to describe the active involvement of the individual Italians, the government and the military in saving the lives of many of the Jews of Italy, Yugoslavia, and the German-occupied south of France in 1942 and 1943.

This 2006 book is a controversial reappraisal of the Italian occupation of the Mediterranean during the Second World War, which Davide Rodogno examines within the framework of fascist imperial ambitions. He focuses on the European territories annexed and occupied by Italy between 1940 and 1943: metropolitan France, Corsica, Slovenia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Western Macedonia, and mainland and insular Greece. He explores Italy's plans for Mediterranean expansion, its relationship with Germany, economic exploitation, the forced 'Italianisation' of the annexed territories, collaboration, repression, and Italian policies towards refugees and Jews. He also compares Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany through their dreams of imperial conquest, the role of racism and anti-Semitism, and the 'fascistization' of the Italian Army. Based on previously unpublished sources, this is a groundbreaking contribution to genocide, resistance, war crimes and occupation studies as well as to the history of the Second World War more generally.

Describes the history and nature of the Italian Race Laws during the period (1938-43) when Italy was independent of German control.

This is a study of the early writings of Virginio Gayda (1885-1944), a talented but amoral Italian journalist whose career spanned two world wars. A keen observer, prolific writer and propagandist during his stint as the newspaper La Stampa’s special correspondent in Habsburg Vienna, Gayda lent his considerable skills to promote an aggressive foreign policy. No one did more than he to poison relations between the Italian and Yugoslav peoples. His is the story of a respected journalist who chose an ultranationalist path to fascism and international fame. Not uninfluenced by rank careerism and material reward he forsook his roots to embrace the antisemitic “race” laws of 1938 and Italy’s disastrous partnership with Nazi Germany.